Above are some of the neat goodies sent to us from Jean and Ernie in a "goody box!"

Lot's of fun stuff. How cute are those frog plates? Which conveniently came in a set of two! The comb they found at a gift shop when they went to a museum that was a house from ancient china moved over here. Lots of cool stickers and stamps to use when working on memory albums! I actually found a couple stamps I couldn't resist too!

I love this fabric! Of course I have been known to have a bit of a frog fetish! But how can I resist when they are so cute? Jean and Ernie are well aware of my frog infatuation and found this super cute fabric with that in mind! Just look at the smiles on the frogs faces! I love the little logos you have been putting on all your wish cards- the cards are so beautiful! Thanks Mom and Dad C.!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Ok, I finally bought something for our future child! I have been saying:

"I don't know how big, I don't know how old, I don't know how many!"

Well I found something that won't matter! I couldn't resist... A cute little ladybug pop-up book! And it's all about the ladybug trying to find a home that's a good fit! (And it was on sale!- if you know me you know I love a good sale!)

Scott and I have officially been fingerprinted! Or, if I use the correct terminology, we have had our BIOMETRICS CAPTURED! Our appointment was Thursday morning at 10am in downtown Atlanta. 30 miles away according to mapquest. Mapquest's estimated time for that trip is 38 minutes. But, knowing this is Atlanta and the traffic is heavier now that school is back in session, we figured we better play it safe so we left a lot earlier. (Oh yeah, for any of you "up North" we start school a lot earlier- some areas started back 2 weeks ago, and all areas were back as of this past Monday.) We decided to allow for 1hr and 15 minutes even though our appt time didn't need to have us driving during the morning rush hour. As we were driving we had a panic moment or two when we heard traffic reports of a major accident on 400. Scott figured out another way to go and it only ended up taking us 50 minutes! Once we were there it was relatively quick. We were most likely the only Americans in the place. One of the workers looked at Scott, and without looking at any of his paperwork asked him, "So where are you adopting from?" The process is pretty simple. It's all done on computers now. No more ink stained fingers! Yeah! Scott has been fingerprinted many times before for his work, but this was a first for me.

First we waited in line outside while everyone was looked over and told to put purses and bags back in their vehicles. We had our hands and ID's looked at and we were allowed in, and then we waited in line. When we got to the head of the line our hands and ID's were looked at again along with our appointment letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then we were handed a clipboard and some paperwork and pointed to a seating area to go fill out the forms. When we were done filling them out we waited in line. Then our hands and ID's were looked at again and we were given a "deli " number and pointed to another seating area where we waited (in line) for our number to show up on the deli counter. We were lucky that there weren't too many people there at that time of day. Otherwise it could have taken a long, long time (like when you go to the SS office or the DMV!)

We had our hands and ID's looked at again by the final person before they took the prints. They wipe down your hands then squish them onto glass- it made it look like I had really fat fingers! Then they did each individual finger, rolling them from one side to the other. It actually went very smoothly! Scott was talking to his fingerprinter and found out that they do approx 300 fingerprints a day. And almost all of those are people trying to become citizens! Now multiply that by 50 states!!!!!

So that's the fingerprinting process! Now all we have to do is wait for our "Golden Ticket!"

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

This square is another from the GIT's (Grandparents-in-training). Thanks Mom and Dad C.! Aren't the ladybugs adorable! Ladybugs are a goodluck symbol in China and are supposed to be especially lucky for adoptions!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Please feel free to sing that to the tune from the Wizard of Oz! (Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!)

Our deck took a little longer to be completed than we originally thought. It is finally done and we are glad it's over! We had to have them redo the staircase because the spacing wasn't child safe and to code, along with some other changes to make it safer. But it is done and it's beautiful! We'll be getting a lot more use out of our deck now than before. We've already spent quite a few nights sitting out enjoying it!

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.-Ancient Chinese Belief"You Complete Our FamilyI Love YouGrammy and Grampy CXOX

This square was sent from the GIT Cloutiers. Thanks Mom and Dad C! I wish I knew what the symbols on the square mean- I'm going to have to look them up! ( I hope I didn't photo it upside down!) The card is beautiful. I love those precious little footprint cutouts! Thanks again for the 2 matching pieces of material (just in case.)

"You are always in my heart and I love you very much. You'll make wonderful parents."

Love,Gram S.XOXOX

This beautiful square in my two favorite colors- bright green and bright red- was sent from Gram Stecchi. Gram, thank you so much for the heartfelt sentiment, we love you too! And again thanks for the 2 matching squares - just in case!

"You are my Forever Princess And I Love You Like Crazy Cakes!"Grammy & Grampy C-XOX-

This is their favorite of the fabrics they picked out so I am glad that I was able to get a picture of it before my batteries died as it should be the first one I list for them. Jean said they were inspired by us becoming a "forever family!" And thank you for sending the 2 sets of each material. I think you're more convinced that we will actually get twins than we are. We are hoping, but the chances are slight. Maybe with all your thoughts and prayers it might actually happen!

We received a box full of goody's from the GIT"s- that would be grandparents-in-training!Thanks Mom and Dad C!Jean and Ernie went out fabric shopping for a quilt square and couldn't resist getting more than one!Unfortunately as I was trying to take pictures of our new squares my camera's batteries died. My back-ups, which had been sitting around a while, had lost their charge as well. So I can only post a few pictures today. Guess you'll have to check back in to see the rest of the squares!I also started a seperate blog just for the quilt squares- I'll still list them here when they come in, but if anyone just wants to see the squares they won 't have to go digging through all the blog entries to find them. I saw that this is what a lot of the bloggers did, so I figured I'd follow their lead. It's at the top of my favorite links list!

After my camera is up and running again I'll take some pictures of the "goodies" we have been sent as well. You know what they say, "One picture is worth a thousand words!"

Thursday, August 9, 2007

We received mail today from the USCIS! Yeah! Our fingerprint appointment notice is here. Now we can go get fingerprinted for the first time- we have been told this will have to happen again due to how long it takes for the whole process. To me this is the most important time as we can't send our information that we have already collected on until this is taken care of. So now our appointment date is here: August 16th!